Days removed from terror attack, power of running to be on display

By Chris Lotsbom, Dyestat Editor 

While the Prefontaine Classic will feature countless stars on Hayward Field's famed oval, the most meaningful race might be across the pond half a world away.

On Wednesday, Great Run -- which organizes the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run -- announced that Sunday's running events will go on as scheduled. Less than a week removed from a senseless terrorist attack that killed more than 20 at an Ariana Grande concert, the Great Manchester Run will be held hoping to unify and lift the city.

The announcement, as of Wednesday evening, has gained more than 450 retweets and 600 likes on Twitter alone. 

For some, it might be too soon to toe the line and race through the streets of Manchester. For others, the chance to run might be the perfect way to honor and remember those whose lives were impacted May 22.

As we've seen before, running races can lift a city up from the tragedy. In November 2001, the New York City Marathon ran through all five boroughs three weeks after the attacks of September 11. A field of 30,000 runners gathered to celebrate the city's strength and resilience. Then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani encouraged marathoners to go forward with strength.

"We are stronger than they are," he said in a rousing pre-race speach. "Our ideas are ideas of free people. Their ideas are ideas of oppressed people. We are right, they are wrong... Thirty thousand people are showing they're not afraid."

And of course in Boston, following the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013, hundreds of thousands of runners used the sport as a way to reflect, remember, and regain strength. No one represented that more than Meb Keflezighi, who 12 months later went on to win perhaps the most meaningful road race in the history of the sport.

People from around the world are thinking of those in Manchester, offering thoughts and prayers. Through running, many will honor those who were lost and injured.